Hold On
by Allium394
Summary: Chell knows one thing for sure: she is in love with her boyfriend, Wheatley, but what about him exactly makes her feel this way? (Takes place partly in the beginning of Portal 2, then at the end, then in an AU.) Rated T for now, but might change it to M later on, depending on where the story goes.
1. Chapter 1

"Uh… go this way," he said, zooming past me, but waiting at the intersection of the catwalk for me to catch up. I ran towards him, my _Aperture_ testing boots allowed me to nearly slide along with him. "Then, uh… I think this way is safe. Yes, trust me."

_Trust me_. Those two words really stuck. For some reason I truly felt I could trust this little robot. I ran towards him again, but this time his ceiling track outstretched farther than the catwalk on which I stood. As he disappeared I heard his voice:

"Just go that way," I looked to my left to see a dark alleyway, though which the catwalk stretched, "we'll meet up at the far side of-" I heard a loud crash and held my breath, waiting for a response, "I'm okay, I'm okay, just go!" I mutely sighed and ran down the catwalk for my life. I was scared for Wheatley's sake more than my own. For some reason I missed him during the few moments we were apart. What if he was hurt? Okay, he's just a robot, he can't feel pain, but what if his hard drive was damaged or something? I couldn't bear to think of Wheatley in whatever the robot equivalent to pain was.

Soon enough, we were together again and he was shouting at me, "this way, this way!" I took the sharp turn and sprinted through an observation room, dodging a group of Turrets. "Sorry about that," he said as a bullet grazed my shoulder.

I smiled, but only for a moment as more bullets were shot my way until we turned a corner and I could hear the eerie, robotic voice of a Turret ask, "where did you go?"

"I think we should be able to escape right… up… here!" Wheatley exclaimed, as we reached our destination.

"Unfortunately," said a voice, a female's, though it was quite robotic, "there is no escape. You will only run into test chambers."

"Oh no," said Wheatley in disappointment, though his eye narrowed in disgust, "not _her_. Oh, I'm so sorry, love. I thought-"

"Remember how much fun we had when we were testing?" said the voice again as the ceiling opened and a robotic structure was lowered. A robotic structure named GLaDOS. "Maybe this time," she said, swaying slightly from side-to-side then focusing in on me, "you'll earn your cake." I didn't dare listen as memories of seeing "_the cake is a lie_" scrawled on walls in the _Aperture Science_ testing chambers came to mind. I believe I even passed one on my way to this test chamber.

"Hey," whispered Wheatley, I looked up at him and into his one robotic eye of bright blue, "plug me into that- that thing over there." I looked down to find a control station much like that in the elevator we'd been in earlier just as Wheatley detached from his rail and stumbled to catch him, nearly letting him fall. I wondered what would happen if he fell and at the thought, became quite nervous, but nonetheless plugged him in.


	2. Chapter 2

**(Notable transition: this now takes place at the end of Portal 2)**

Staring out into the infinite darkness of space, not entirely sure how I was breathing in its vacuum yet still hanging on, existing, I gripped Wheatley as hard as I could, however, my will to hold on was stronger than my actual grasp and eventually my hand loosened. As I attempted to better grip Wheatley, a certain Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System had gained back control of _Aperture_ and was pulling me back in, but trying to pry me away from Wheatley.

It then happened so fast. Before I could fathom what was going on, I was back on Earth, Wheatley was in an eternal orbit around the moon and GLaDOS was once again looming over me with power, much like when I met her for the first time since the explosion. However, this time she wasn't calling me a monster, but her "best friend," and I hadn't my talkative British companion next to me. No, I'd never again have him next to me, or even within my reach. I'd never even see him again.

Wheatley was gone.

The fact was, I never thought of him ever being truly gone. Even when we were separated after he gained control over _Aperture_ I knew I'd see him again. But it's like the old saying, "you never know the wealth of water until the well is dry." You never know the wealth of Wheatley until he's forever in space.

I couldn't help but feel affection toward Wheatley. Even when he tried to kill me, I pitied him because he was so easily corrupt with power. I admittedly even felt some attraction toward him. Of course it was a friendly attraction. How could it not be? I mean, there could never be anything between us, him being a personality core and I a human. To even want anything romantic or feel anything of that matter would be inappropriate, us not being of the same species, or even both living!

The realization came to me: Wheatley was never even living, how could I be romantically attracted to him? The thought wasn't even remotely sane. However, thinking about us romantically seemed so right. But how could it even work? Wheatley hadn't arms in which to hold me, a mouth for me to kiss, nor any sort of reproductive organs. Yet, it seemed _so right_.

I thought through this as I moved up on an elevator and passed Turrets who were not doing their usual kill-on-sight action, but singing in an eerie robotic symphony.

But what was it that attracted me to him? Obviously it wasn't his appearance, since he was only a sphere. Maybe it was the voice. Although, it wasn't really something that I found necessarily attractive, but more as a sound that made me feel secure. Maybe Wheatley's eye, I'd always liked the color blue. However, I couldn't imagine being attracted to Wheatley because of his eye.

What was it then?

I realized then that the music of the Turrets was fading and the world was slipping away from me in a mass of whiteness.


End file.
